Hello St. Matthias and friends of St. Matthias,   

This Sunday we welcome you to worship with us. Come as you are, in the pain and in the joy beholding.  

There will be no coffeehour after the service. We are taking a pause after two successful coffeehours in June - our goodbye farewell for Rev. Meagan and Matt and our lovely welcome tea hosted last Sunday for our new Rector, Colleen Lissamer. Thank you so much to all who helped with labour, food, and fellowship. I hve heard-tell of some delicious Bundt cake made by Judith, cookies from Hazel, and biscotti from Kristina. Additional thanks to Marilyn and Sheila for providing a fruit option and to David for his coffeetime expertise.   

Colleen would like you to know of her new office hours for the summer: for the time being, she will be in the office Tues, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings from 10am to 1pm. These office hours will start next Wednesday. Colleen will be out of office on Tuesday July 5th for Grant's funeral. More information below if you would like to attend the service. 

I received an email to the church office this week from a student named Sara from the Czech Republic who will be a Camosun College exchange student this fall. She is looking for any leads for homestay or other housing options in Victoria among Christian communities. If anyone has any leads let me know and I will connect you.     

More below about We Together, the Diocesan Conference 2022 and also info and recommendation from Karen Fast about the enriching Victoria Reconciliation Dialogues Series, a timely event for reflections on Indigenous land on this Canada Day weekend.

Blessings to you,

Jessie 

Recommendation from Reverend Canon Karen Fast:

Further to my comment about the rich, and humbling, experience I had attending #5 of the Victoria Reconciliation Dialogues – “Guests of Lekwengen: Urban Indigenous Experiences in Canada”:  There are two more free dialogues remaining and registration remains possible for both.                                  

July 11   #6 – Rethinking Heritage in the Context of Reconciliation and Sept 12  #7 – Going Forward Together                                

Registration is on-line.  Go to ‘Victoria Reconciliation Dialogues’ by following this link:  victoria.ca/ReconciliationDialogues.   All Dialogues, held at the Victoria Conference Centre, are available on tape through the same web site. 

So far I have also listened to #2.  I really hope to get to #1, 3 and 4 before July 11, but it is not a requirement. The podcasts of the dialogues are set up such that one can omit parts.  But I encourage those interested to take in as much as possible  of the  dialogues, videos, sharing, witnessing and other kinds of presentations.    –Karen Fast 

Pre-register to join IN-PERSON for  Victoria Reconciliation Dialogues in 2022! The events are free and all are welcome.

These conversations will enable community members to participate in person in reconciliation on Lekwungen territory.   Guided by members of the City Family and special guests, the conversations seek to build the community’s knowledge and understanding of reconciliation – what it is, why it is needed and why community participation in reconciliation is important.   You’re invited to pre-register through Eventbrite to participate in some or all of the Dialogues. The format will vary and may include storytelling, discussion and other forms of learning, with each conversation being approximately 2.5 hours in length. Each Dialogue will include an Indigenous welcome by Florence Dick of the Songhees Nation, and a witness ceremony at the end.  

The funeral service for Rev. Grant Croswell will be celebrated at the Church of the Advent, Colwood, at 11.am on July 5th. 2022. Celebrant Bishop Anna Greenwood Lee, Sermon by Bishop Logan McMenamie. Clergy are invited to vest and process. The liturgical color is white. In lieu of flowers, Colleen invites donations to the diocesan seminarian fund. The livestream for the service can be accessed on the parish website. Link to be posted later.

We Together is our diocesan biennial family reunion. It's an opportunity to reconnect with old friends and a time to make new ones. Together we learn about, pray about and share what God is up to in our lives, strengthening ourselves, as the diocese of Islands and Inlets, for the journey God is calling us to.

The theme of this year’s conference will be “Here in This Place.” We will begin our time together with a banquet on Friday night with Bishop Anna providing our opening address. Two keynote address will take place on Saturday with opportunities to break into small group and discuss material.

Our first keynote speaker is Jillian Harris, a knowledge holder, Elder and former Chief of the Penelakut Tribe. She studied at Vancouver School of Theology and is a traditional funeral worker in her community. She will invite us to remember the earliest Church of England missions here on these islands and inlets, and what they might mean for us now.

Our second keynote speaker is Rachel Brown. Rachel is the program coordinator at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria. She is a religious studies scholar who has had an integral role in the project that has culminated in the publication of Religion at the Edge: Nature, Spirituality, and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest (UBC Press 2022).

We will end our time with the celebration of the Eucharist and a closing sermon by John Thatamanil, our diocesan theologian. John is a comparative theologian and professor of theology at Union Theological Seminary. John will reflect on our time together and send us back into our places with a renewed sense of what it means to be here in this place. 

To register for this event, please CLICK HERE.